National Lottery Authority to ensure revenue is not compromised
The National Lottery Authority (NLA) on Tuesday said it would continue to work assiduously to ensure that the security of its generated revenue was not compromised and ceded to institutions or persons.
Mr Kojo Andah, Director General of NLA, who gave the assurance, said “The NLA with the assistance of the Police shall exercise in full, its powers of entry and seizure in respect of any article or object, which has been or is being used to commit an offence connected to lotto and lottery”.
Reacting to a recent court decision, Mr Andah said in the case between the authority and Millicom Ghana Limited, operators of TIGO, the court declined jurisdiction to determine the matter because in its opinion the NLA lacked the capacity to enforce civil action against TIGO.
The court last week restrained the NLA from further prosecuting businesses that engaged in lottery.
It said any business that had fallen short of the lottery act, should instead be impeached by the Attorney General because it constituted a criminal offence.
Mr Andah said “The Judgment further stated that since a breach of the mandatory prohibition creates a criminal offence, only the Attorney General can prosecute on behalf of the NLA, unless the Attorney General has by Executive Instrument granted the NLA powers to prosecute its own cases”.
“All the court said was that the Attorney General should have constituted the action on behalf of the NLA since the breach of the mandatory prohibition was criminal in nature.”
Mr Andah said the NLA would appeal against the judgment as the court did not determine the substantive matter, which boarded on whether or not the activities of TIGO constituted a lottery.
He pointed out that the judgment had not changed the mandate of the NLA as enshrined in the National lotto Act, 2006 (Act 722).
“All it means is that if any institution or person is engaged in lotto or lottery, the NLA with the assistance of the Police would have to arrest the directors of the institution and with the assistance of the Attorney General prepare a docket on the company and its directors or person for prosecution,” he added.
Mr Andah said the NLA would continue to enforce ACT 722 and would not cede its mandate to any individual or institution.
Based on that, Mr Andah said the NLA had engaged the A-G’s Department, which had indicated its willingness and capacity to work with the authority in ensuring that ACT 722 remained an effective law.
Pursuant to ACT 722, the NLA commenced legal action against institutions engaged in lottery disguised as marketing or consumer promotions and secured injunctions to curb their activities.
Last year, the NLA secured an injunction to restrain mobile operator, TIGO from running its “TIGO House Promotion” since it was illegal.
Source: GNA